Look-A-Likes - Magdalina Herr Pudwill and Martha Herr Werre

Recently, a cousin of mine (who I am so thankful to have connected with), sent me a photo of my 2x Great Grandfather's siblings (except he happened to not get in the photo!)

The photo is great - it's of all of his siblings seated together in one row and then the others are standing behind the seated ones. They all have the typical stern faces you'd see in photos from that era, but some had little smirks on their faces, too.

This picture was likely taken around 1905-1906.

One of the siblings is my great, great grandfather's sister, named Magdalina Herr Pudwill. She was born in 1886, however, lived to be only 21 years old, and passed away in childbirth in 1907. I am not sure if that child survived, but it's very sad that she did not live longer.

Magdalina's brother, Jacob (my great, great grandfather), had a daughter named Martha Herr in 1898. She is the one pictured on the right, circa 1904, at age 6.

When I saw Magdalina's photo, I instantly thought she resembled Martha, her niece.

I decided to put their photos side by side, and although there are differences, they look like they are definitely related.

Throwback Thursday - Then and Now

Ida Roehm - My Great, Great Aunt (2nd Great Aunt)

Ida Roehm was my Great Grandfather's sister, She was born August 15th, 1890 and married Ezra Bastien in 1925. It appears they did not have children. She lived in Illinois most of her adult life until she passed away in 1987. 

Here are two photos from when Ida was young and one photo when she was much older. I cannot locate any of her between this time. However, I hope to find some photos of her when she was more middle-aged. My Grandma said she was a nice lady. I will have to find out more about Ida. I'd like to keep her memory alive. 

 Ida Roehm in Wishek with a cat and her dog. This appears to be where her brother (my great grandfather, George) and his wife (Lydia Herr), lived. This was likely taken sometime between 1915-1920.

Ida Roehm, Lydia [Herr] Roehm and a friend, showing off the men's hunt for the day, circa 1920-21. 

Lydia [Herr] Roehm Murphy with her sister-in-law, Ida Roehm Bastien, in Illinois, circa 1981.

Fearless Females - {Birthday Edition}: Lydia Herr Roehm Murphy - Born March 20th - Part 1

A special lady in our family was born on this day; the matriarch of our family, shall we say. So many people have always had such wonderful things to say about Lydia. She has been remembered fondly by many family members and friends alike, and boy, did she have friends! She was truly someone special, she gave of herself in so many ways and was very generous of her time and monetary donations to those in need.

Lydia Herr (she did not have a middle name), was born on an early Spring day on March 20th, 1896. She was a first generation American in her family, as both of her parents who were of German descent, came to America from Russia in their youth.

Her parents were said to have met at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, as seen below:

At the moment, there is no record of their marriage, however, they were married sometime between their meeting and Lydia's conception, probably sometime in mid-1895.

Jacob and Christina Herr had their first born in Ashely, North Dakota, just a few miles from where they'd end up making a permanent home in Wishek.

When Lydia was born, she was jaundice. Someone thought quick on their feet and put her inside their kitchen oven. Lydia survived!

Here is a picture of baby Lydia, the oldest known picture we have of her and her parents, from circa 1897:

Even though we are not 100% sure if putting Lydia inside the oven would have been the cause of this for her, but she had poor eyesight her whole life, and began wearing glasses at a very early age.

Lydia grew up on the family farm in Wishek with her siblings, helping out on many of the chores, such as milking the cows, feeding the chickens and many other household duties. She also made time for school, but only graduating from the 8th grade.

Here's a few photos to capture these moments:

Lydia (back middle), with Martha, Sophie and baby brother Arthur, circa 1904.

Lydia grew up in this home in Ashley, ND. When she was around 8 or so, she daringly climbed up the windmill all the way to the top. I have a feeling she got in trouble for doing so!

Lydia (on right) with a friend, Summer of 1914

Lydia with her cousin, Donald Herr, circa 1914

Lydia working outside, doing laundry and farm work, circa 1914-1915

Lydia only stood 4'11'' and had hazel eyes with light brown hair. 

Lydia was a photographer and developed her own photos in her own darkroom. One postcard I found verifies this info, as the sender of the card asked how Lydia's photography was going. And, one obvious piece of evidence is the amount of photographs she kept and took! The little Brownie camera must have inspired her! 

She was also a master seamstress, working not only on her own clothes, but also her siblings and later her children's and husbands. She would often ask her family what they'd like to have sewn, and she'd make it special for them. 

Lydia started working at her father's mercantile store in town, which was a large store that carried everything from clothing to eggs. It even had a soda fountain! Lydia worked in the dry goods section, often dealing with materials and sewing items. She worked mainly as the seamstress and became friends with many  people in town. She was friends with Lucy Roehm, who came from a family of Germans who were from Northern Germany and immigrated out of Berlin. 

Lucy had an older brother named George, who became acquainted with Lydia, most likely during this time. Lydia and George went to dances together and Lodge meetings. Somewhere along the way, they must have become smitten with one another, because on December 25th, 1914, they were married. There were rumors that some boys were after Lydia because she came from a wealthier family than others in town (mostly due to her father owning part of the Herr Mercantile Store). 

George was a tall, dark and handsome man, with blue eyes and dark brown hair, with a nice tan. His rugged good looks complimented Lydia's softer, lighter features.

Here are a few photos of them during their courtship and after their marriage.

George after a day's hunt, Wishek, ND, circa 1914.

George and Lydia on far left, with friends and family (they look like they are Roehms)

George taking a break while building, circa 1914.

George bailing hay, circa 1914 (I think Lydia took these photos of him because she was truly in love with him and wanted to have something to remember him by - if it were not for her, we may not have many younger photos of either one of them)

George and Lydia in center, with friends in woods, circa 1914

Lydia and George on their wedding day, December 25th, 1914. Lydia designed and made her own wedding gown. 

Shortly after their marriage, George worked hard and quickly to get a home built for them; one that would provide in creating a family and a place of rest. And, that family started quickly - George and Lydia had their first born daughter, Doris, in September of 1915.

 Lydia taking down the frozen laundry outside. She would often do this and then take it in and let it dry on a rope during the winter, circa Winter of 1914-1915. George wrote on the back of this photo, saying he took it and caught her by surprise. I thought that was kind of cute that he did that.

Lydia & Doris, about 1916

Martha Herr Werre, George Roehm and baby Doris Roehm, on a boat, circa Winter of 1915/1916.

Doris Roehm and Joyce Roehm, circa 1918 (I think Lydia was pregnant with her daughter Izetta, based on her stance and the shape of her dress)

George and Lydia would have a total of seven children: Doris, Joyce, Izetta, George Jr, Alwin, Annette and James, the last being born in 1942.

During the latter half of the 1910's, America was facing a World War. George was drafted, however, he was able to get out of the draft, due to being the sole supporter of his growing family. His brothers, though, all served. 

During the 1920's, the family prospered and continued to grow, however, at the end of 1929, George and Lydia, like all Americans, could not avoid the effects of the Great Depression. Even Lydia's inheritance from her father's death in 1926, could only last them so long. However, Lydia's philanthropic side used her money to help put George's sister, Lucy, through nursing school.

At the beginning of 1929, came the birth of their last daughter, Annette (my grandmother). Annette would be their last born child for 13 years, until James "Jimmy" Roehm was born in 1942.

During the Great Depression, the family scraped on by, but work seemed to finally have ran out for George by the time 1942 came around. He had been a superintendent on building the Wishek Civic Auditorium for the WPA, but that wasn't enough to get them through the end of the Depression, especially in a town that was not quite growing at the momentum that America's larger cities were growing. 

Like many did during the Depression and during the onset of World War II, the Roehms went west to California. Both of their sons were of age to be drafted. Alwin was drafted very much right out of  graduating High School in 1942. George Jr was 21 when he was drafted. Alwin went to California to work for a bit and possibly train. During this time, he sent money home to help prepare the family to come to California. Finally the time came. Lydia had most of their belongings put on a train and sent to California. They then drove to California and lived temporarily with their older daughter, Izetta, until their home was done being built in Richmond. Sometime in 1943, the family had a new home in a new neighborhood in Richmond, CA. 

Richmond was one of the main hubs of ship building during World War II. The Kaiser shipyards are where George took up helping build the many ships that they produced. "Rosie the Riveter" was a famous term for the women who also worked in these ship yards.

Here are a few photos of the family slightly prior and after their move to California:

George Jr, George Sr, Annette and Lydia, circa 1940. Not too many years away from leaving the only home they knew to the sunny shores of California for a new beginning.

Making it in California, Lydia and George's children have grown up and began families of their own - Alwin, Joyce and Doris with father George, circa 1944.

Ross Sr, unknown, George Roehm and his brother Richard Roehm, who was a chemist in Anaheim, CA.

Joyce Wolf, Doris Thvedt, Izetta Purviance with Cheryl Thvedt - George Sr is holding Ross Purviance, Jr.

California must have felt a million miles away for Lydia and George, but they adapted fairly easily to the beautiful, mild weather of the Bay Area, making a home in the San Francisco  -East Bay Area.

The second part of Lydia's life only gets better. Her life is too interesting to keep it all contained in one post - so I will resume the second half on the anniversary of her actual birthday, March 20th.

Source: Visit Lisa Alzo's great blog, which is the source for the Fearless Female blog prompt, http://www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com/ 

Cold Days Ahead

The coldness of North Dakota, I heard from my Grandma, was at times unbearable. She used to have to share her bed with her sisters and one of the sisters would always take the sheet away from my Grandma. Then there was the outhouse. During the cold months, I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to have to go out in sub-zero weather and attempt to use the rest room. I am sure she tried to not do it.

These were still the pioneering days in the 1920's and 1930's and also the Great Depression. Living out in the middle of nowhere meant modern day conveniences for even that time were not readily available.

Here are a few photos showing some of the cold winter months in North Dakota from our family collection.

I have a better photo of this picture somewhere, but this was the only copy I could locate. This is my Aunt Doris, sometime around 1925, playing in the snow.

This is my Grandma (second from left) with her Babitzke cousins and their dog, Swifty (the cutest dog name and dog ever!!)

My great Aunt Martha (aka Mart) and cousin Donald Herr on a very simple looking boat on what could be Red Lake, near Wishek, ND.

Another photo of Mart and Donald (cousins)

A closer up, studio shot of Martha and what looks like a very warm coat and cute hat, circa 1915

Great Aunt Mart, George Roehm and Lydia with their newborn and first born, Doris, in 1915. These are my great grandparents. My grandma would come many years later.

Great Aunt Mart attempts to shoot something in the great plains of ND, circa 1915.

George Roehm Jr., Izetta Roehm, one of the Herr children, Doris and Joyce Roehm and possibly Babtizke cousin, circa 1927-28

Birthdays - Happy Birthday, George John Roehm (October 16th)

George John Roehm (10/16/1893 - 10/18/1948)

My Maternal Great Grandfather

He would be 121 years old

George was born in Green Lake, Wisconsin, shortly before his father moved the family to North Dakota. He was the sixth child out of ten children of Karl (often referred to as Charles or Carl) Roehm and Rebecca Stegemann Roehm. He was a middle child of sorts but appeared to be the most handsome of the sons. Unfortunately, the two eldest siblings passed away during an influenza epidemic in the late 1890s, which left him to be the 4th eldest of the Roehm children. He was friends with the Herr family, and eventually took a liking to the Herr's eldest daughter, Lydia. They married on December 25th, 1914. Most of the pictures below are from around that time of their marriage. 

Over the course of his life, he had many friends who were also hunting buddies. Many of these friends were local doctors, politicians, business owners and farmers. George seemed to attract intellectuals, even though he likely did not go past the 8th grade in education. He seemed to be a charming man and sure to have wit. He was once urged by these fellow men to become mayor of Wishek, but I think George liked his privacy, and did not go for it. During the Great Depression, he worked under the WPA as a superintendent, and built the Civic Auditorium in Wishek, N.D.

When the Great Depression got the best of the family, and with George still having children to take care of in the early 1940's, he and the family took the bold move to California, gathering all they could in their car and traveling out west. Many of his children had already headed west, and that's where it seemed jobs were more plentiful. He decided to work for the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, CA. This allowed the family to move into a new home in Richmond and rebuild their life. Lydia was likely never without want, as she came from a wealthier family and was sure to have gathered some kind of inheritance to possibly help the family get through the worst of the Depression. Her father was part owner of the Herr Mercantile Store, which stayed in business throughout the Great Depression.

George worked hard throughout the war years on the war ships that his sons likely were using to go and fight in. Shortly after the war, in 1948, George suffered a heart attack which killed him. He seemed to live a short life compared to most people, but he fit a lot in that life and built a family and took care of them. Happy Birthday, Great Grandpa George!

Enjoy!

 A nice candid shot of George, circa 1914-1915. He stood quite tall, somewhere around 6'1'' or 6'2''.

 George with his first born daughter, Doris Roehm, born September 1915.She had an eye patch on due to a vision problem she had during birth. She had to go to the doctor in Bismarck, N.D. to have it monitored and mostly wore glasses her whole life.

 I think there are several Roehm brothers in this photo, but they have not been clearly identified. I believe the one laying down in the middle, smiling, looks to be George Roehm. The one left to him, I believe is either Charles or Wilhelm (Will) Roehm. The man to the far right, also looks like a Roehm son, but I am unsure of which, since most of the other sons would be very young around the time this picture was taken, which I am gathering it was taken around 1915-1916.

 George Roehm, on the right, with possibly a brother of his, working inside a home, which could have been the home he was building for he and Lydia. I think Lydia took this photo, as she did most of the photography in the family.

 I believe George Roehm is the one in the middle, with the hat on in the boat. These could be his hunting buddies and possibly some of his brothers, circa late 1910's.

George Roehm with his rifle, circa 1915.

George Roehm on his wedding day to Lydia Herr, December 1914.

George Roehm (far right) with his hunted ducks and buddies, 1922.

 More of George Roehm with his brother Fred on the far left, two friends in the middle, and George on the far right, September 1929.

 George Roehm, in Wishek, still handsome, but showing some age, circa early 1930s.

George Roehm, on the far right, kneeling, in Los Angeles, CA, circa 1944-1945. His youngest daugther, Annette is in the middle with the arrow towards her. She said he was very protective of her. He treated her differently than the others because she was the only daughter that took after him. When she was born, he was hoping for a little girl with dark hair like his own, and he got exactly that. 

Life in the North Dakota Plains

My great grandmother was born in a small town called Ashley, N.D. near Wishek, N.D., in which she spent her entire life until leaving with her husband and remaining children in 1942 for Richmond, CA. Her parents were both Russian immigrants, however, one parent had been here his entire life except for his first 6 months. Her mother was born in Russia, and came to America when she was about 13 in 1889 through the New York Port known as Castle Garden, which is now part of Battery Park/Castle Clinton. Ellis Island had not opened yet, so a lot of people neglect to look at this website and if they cannot locate their ancestors through Ellis Island's website, they might just give up. Little do people know, but since Ellis Island didn't open until late in the game, there was still a significant amount of immigrants that came through other ports in New York that go largely unnoticed - Castle Garden is one of those ports.

Even though my great grandparents were born in Russia, they were of German descent. In the 1700's Catherine the Great called upon her fellow Germans (she was of German descent herself even though she was a ruler of Russia) to come to Russia to help work the land and farm in what some would call today, inhabitable parts. These areas included along the Volga River, parts of Siberia and along the Black Sea region. Our family came from the Black Sea region, which is now what they consider the Ukraine.

Looking closer, however, my great, great grandfather's side (surname is Herr) came from an area called Kamorovka - See below for a description from Wikipedia:

Kamarovka was founded as Kassel in 1810. It is part of the Bergdorf, Glückstal,^[1] Kassel, Neudorf area near Odessa in Ukraine, which was allocated by the Russia Crown government to German immigrants who left certain areas of Germany/Hungary (Hesse, Baden, Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg), Alsace (now part of France), the Palatinate, or Hungary) between 1808 and 1810.^[2] The immigrants who founded Kassel were all Protestants, the majority Evangelical [Lutheran], a minority Reformed. Czar Alexander I encouraged immigration from many countries into the Ukrainian areas along the Black Sea, acquired from the Ottoman Empire in 1804. The Germans were fleeing the oppressive occupation of southwest Germany by Napoleon’s armies (until his defeat at Waterloo in 1815). Although the Russians discouraged the practice of any religion other than Russian Orthodoxy, the official church of Russia, Czar Alexander I granted religious freedom and other special privileges, such as local autonomy and temporary tax relief, to the German immigrants. In 1871, Czar Alexander II revoked some of the special privileges (including exemption from military service) originally granted to the German immigrants by Czar Alexander I, and shortly after that many of them began to migrate to the United States, especially to the Dakotas.^[3]

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The Herr family had a rich and varied history prior to coming to Russia. It seemed they had a case of wanderlust. Many of the Herr's lived and married in first Germany, then Madagascar, then Hungary, then France then back to Germany; when they removed themselves Germany completely and moved to Russia, for very likely the same reasons listed above - oppression from Napoleon's army.

When my great, great grandfather came to America (landing in Baltimore and traveling to North Dakota), his parents once again uprooted and left for yet another foreign land that brought promise to them. Maybe America finally brought the riches the Herr's had been looking for, because Jacob's father, Jacob Sr., was one of the more well to do in Wishek. He owned one of the major mercantile stores in the area, and along with good farming skills and business dealings, Jacob Sr., built a grand home in the area and made Wishek his homestead. His oldest son and namesake, took on the business with his brothers while also being involved with the cattle trade, often traveling on a private car on the Soo Line to Chicago. Unfortunately, sometime in 1926-27, Jacob Jr. never returned from one of his trips to Chicago. No one knows what happened to him except part of me questions some actions taken by some family members during the aftermath of his disappearance. Shortly after he disappeared, his wife Christina was removed from her home by several family members, she then moved in with her eldest daughter who lived nearby. It is presumed the home and property were either sold or other family members moved into her former home. Some years later, Jacob's daughter, Martha, hired a private investigator to track Jacob's whereabouts, however, nothing turned up on him.

There seems to be little sympathy for Christina and what happened to her husband. Dare I say there was some foul play that happened to Jacob? Was he murdered for his inheritance? Some legal papers I found stated that Jacob was entitled to a fortune, that with inflation, equaled close to $1,000,000 dollars.

It's a sad ending which left Christina a widow with several young children to still raise. Until this day, I cannot locate any death records for Jacob Herr nor a grave site for him. Part of me feels as if his body was left somewhere between Fargo and Chicago. I know it sounds dismal, but this is my hunch and it's a very sad outcome for a family member of ours.

The mercantile store stayed open at least until the mid-1980's. I am not sure if it prospered past that point.

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Please see some photos here of the Herr's in Wishek, ND

Jacob Herr Jr with wife Christina (nee Orth) and oldest daughter, Lydia (my great-grandmother), circa 1897

 The Herr Mercantile Store in an add in the Wishek 1948 Jubilee book (this photo taken in 1909)

Martha, Lydia (my great-grandmother), Arthur and Sophie Herr, circa 1904, Wishek, North Dakota

Joshua and Jacob III Herr at their home, circa 1923-24. It appears a tent is outside for them to play in.

The Herr homestead as a Bird's Eye view, circa 1910's

A closer view of the Herr Homestead, circa 1910's

The Herr Mercantile store. A rare photo taken from inside. Lydia may have taken this photo. She worked inside the store as a seamstress, circa 1912.